Are Tarvisio
Lindsey Vonn leaves the Olympia downhill course in her dust on the way to her third ownhill win of the season.
Stacey Cook had her best result in four years in fifth in the Are downhill.
cember 2006. Her secret to success? California powder.
“Last week I got to go home and free ski some powder in Mammoth, so I came back with just a really good feeling and really loving skiing,” said Cook, who had never been on the track before. “I
just had a really positive attitude and tried to keep that freeskiing
mentality that I had going in Mammoth here in Sweden.”
Mancuso never quite found the right line and finished 11th, 1. 51
seconds off the winning time. Leanne Smith and Laurenne Ross
hit the points in 18th and 25th, respectively.
“We knew Lindsey was back to full strength and that she could win
this race,” said U.S. women’s head coach Alex Hoedlmoser. “But
you have to do it on race day and she did an excellent job. It was
really fun to see Stacey ski the training runs well. She was really
fast and today she figured out how to put it down on race day.”
Are Super G, Feb. 27
They say second place is the first loser. It sure felt like that for
Lindsey Vonn after she missed the super G win by one hundredth
ZOOM; GEPA
of a second — the smallest amount of time measured in a World
Cup ski race. That small fraction of a second added up to a 40-
point swing in the overall standings in winner Riesch’s favor.
“It’s definitely frustrating, especially at this time of the year, with
the overall World Cup so tight,” said Vonn, who maintained the
super G lead by 131 points with her three wins and two second-
place finishes this season. “It would have been great if we could
have just tied.”
Julia Mancuso, the World Champs super G silver medalist, fin-
ished third, 0.79 seconds back. It was the third time Riesch, Vonn
and Mancuso shared a World Cup podium this season.
Riesch moved up to a 196-point lead on Vonn in the overall stand-
ings. “I think I turned the odds on my side and if I cannot win more
points, the goal is now not to lose any,” said Riesch; this was her
first super G win since 2008.
None can argue that Riesch hasn’t been the standout overall ski-
er this season. Her trio of podiums in Are were her 12th, 13th and
14th of the season, a streak that includes top-three finishes in all
five disciplines.
SkiRacing.com MARCH 17, 2011 | 25
